The Family Business Consulting Group is pleased to announce the addition of Jean Meeks-Koch, Ph.D. as its newest consultant specializing in advising family enterprises facing significant organizational transitions. She has extensive experience specialized in large-scale change management initiatives, organizational systems and restructuring, leadership and team cohesiveness development, executive coaching, psychometric personality and competency assessments, and leadership curriculum design and implementation in various modalities.

“Jean’s insights into organizational and family systems is tremendously keen as is her strategic and financial acuity,” said Managing Principal Drew Mendoza. “She is very well rounded and a wonderful resource for the families with whom she works.”

As a recognized expert in organization structure and behavioral dynamics, Jean is uniquely positioned to help clients select strategic change initiatives that match their unique organizational characteristics. She collaborates with families to look beyond the immediate pressing issues and look out into the next generational horizon. With a vigilant eye on the triple-bottom line, Jean intertwines her financial acumen, organization structure, and human systems capabilities together navigating the human dynamics of change.

Jean earned her Ph.D. in Organization Systems and Behaviors from Saybrook University; Masters in Accountancy from Southern Utah University; and Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Southern Utah University. She holds several certifications including the Advance Certification in Family Business Advising from the Family Firm Institute.

A few years back, I worked with a client who was struggling to make strategic decisions for his company. He had just taken over his family’s business and, as is the case with many family businesses, was dealing with challenging family dynamics set in motion well before he’d come aboard. Even though the defining event – the sudden exit of one of the principles years before – had happened when he was a young adult, the ripple effect of that event was still impacting the family’s direction for the future. This got me thinking about the paths family businesses choose, leading me to ask myself, “Are family business often forced down a path as a result of past unresolved conflicts in the family?”

As I thought about this, I suddenly remembered the scene in the movie Back to the Future II where Doc Brown is explaining the space/time continuum path to Marty McFly, and how his going back to 1955 in the first movie disrupted the universe: “Our only chance to repair the present is in the past, at the point where the timeline skewed into this tangent. “

You may be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with family business?”

It’s my contention that unresolved conflict in a family business acts very much like Doc Brown’s disruption of the space/time continuum; causing what I call a break in the family/time continuum that influences all subsequent decisions, affecting the direction of the family business going forward – and not always for the best. But if the family can “go back in time” in a sense, to resolve or at least honestly address this past conflict, it provides an opportunity to make strategic decisions based on what is best for the family and the business, rather than having those choices dictated by a conflict in the past, as illustrated below.

What are some of the most common causes of breaks in the Family/Time Continuum?

Poor communication: Family members are not able to communicate effectively with each other or to talk through their different perspectives; conversations that should be had are not, yet life and the business still move forward.

Family conflict /lack of resolution: Resolution does not mean agreement – but it does mean agreeing to move forward. You’ve got to be able to make good business decisions, in which the past doesn’t dictate the future.

Lack of strategic planning: Good strategic planning can help prevent these kinds of family/time continuum events from happening. If, for instance a family doesn’t plan in advance for the death of a family member, it’s possible that the business will shift in a direction that isn’t optimal when the event happens.

Unexpected death in the family: A sudden death in the family brings emotional trauma along with other practical repercussions that can easily push the family off course.

Poor definitions of roles and responsibilities: When you don’t have structure in an organization, it’s like a bad rowing crew that can’t pull together to win a race. This also contributes to the likelihood of…

Mismanaged expectations: When people don’t share a common understanding of their place and power in the family business, or when the leader refuses to share power with his heir apparent, it can lead to hard feelings that damage both the business and the family.

Entitlement: We often see cases in which Mom and Dad have effectively given their kids power in the company without having set expectations around what they have to do to earn it. When parents are unwilling to address entitlement issues, they run the risk of creating a break in the family/time continuum; the employees resent the kids, and the kids themselves aren’t capable of taking over when the time comes, risking the future of the business.

As we’ve seen, poor communication is most often the underlying current that drives conflict in a family business. Before making changes to an intended strategic direction in your business, I encourage you ask yourself “What is causing this shift; is it due to changing market or financial conditions, or is because of unresolved family dynamics?”

If it is the latter, I encourage you to address those family issues before making change in direction that may negatively impact your business down the line. You may still find yourself continuing down the altered path, but at least you be doing it knowing this is what is right for the family and the business.

The Family Business Consulting Group is pleased to welcome to its team David Karofsky.

David brings over 25 years of experience in coaching and consulting to individuals, families and companies to develop better cross team communication and build alignment among leadership. His client work is focused on executing the transition of ownership and leadership, professional development, conflict resolution, strategic planning and forming governance structures for family and closely-held businesses.

David is a recognized practitioner in the field, international speaker, and co-author of So You’re in the Family Business: A Guide to Sustainability with his father, Paul Karofsky. David joined his father’s firm, Transition Consulting Group, when he began his family business consulting practice, which has given him a personal appreciation for the joys of family business. David feels the move to FBCG offers the best of both worlds. “When FBCG approached me about joining its practice, I saw it as a wonderful opportunity to become part of a new team and expand the value I provide to my clients, while still being able to collaborate with my father.”

“We’re excited to have David on board,” shared Drew Mendoza, Managing Principal. “We have a lot of respect for the work that David and his father, Paul, have done with families over the years. David brings great energy, knowledge and expertise around family business, and he’ll have much to contribute to the FBCG team and the families that we serve.”

David is a graduate of Bowdoin College and received his Ed.M. in Counseling Psychology from Boston University and his MBA from Northeastern University. He is based in Boston, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Next generation development is a critical component of multi-generational continuity.[1] An effective process for developing the next generation of leaders requires a significant commitment of family resources. A test of whether your next generation development process is being effective involves answering three questions:

Are family members developing the competencies to perform in their current and future family enterprise role(s)?

Are family members developing the confidence that they can deliver in their current and future family enterprise role(s)?

Are family members building credibility with family members, non-family executives and independent directors?

Development of competency, confidence and credibility go hand-in-hand. Competency is the combination of behaviors, knowledge and skills necessary to be well-qualified to perform in a particular family enterprise role, whether it be management or ownership. The opportunity to demonstrate competency combined with accurate feedback on performance is essential to developing confidence. Experiencing demonstrated competency sets the stage for family members to trust in themselves to further develop and prepare for increasingly complex roles. Experiences where learning is taking place and value is being created for the family enterprise is a powerful combination which builds family member credibility.

As individual family member competency and confidence build, credibility with other family enterprise stakeholders also increases as they come to believe and trust in the family member. Essential to building credibility includes having, and applying, a well-defined next generation development process which is understood and accepted throughout the family. This helps ensure that stakeholders believe decisions regarding access to development opportunities, including employment roles, are in line with what has been agreed upon.

As your family considers the significant commitment you are making to your next generation development process, test its effectiveness through assessment of the impact on developing competency, confidence and credibility in the family’s next generation of family leaders. This assessment will provide you with important feedback to drive needed adjustments and to encourage your family to continue to invest in this critical component of multi-generational continuity.

Next generation development is a critical component of multi-generational continuity.[1] An effective process for developing the next generation of leaders requires a significant commitment of family resources.

A test of whether your next generation development process is being effective involves answering three questions:

Are family members developing the competencies to perform in their current and future family enterprise role(s)?

Are family members developing the confidence that they can deliver in their current and future family enterprise role(s)?

Are family members building credibility with family members, non-family executives and independent directors?

Development of competency, confidence and credibility go hand-in-hand. Competency is the combination of behaviors, knowledge and skills necessary to be well-qualified to perform in a particular family enterprise role, whether it be management or ownership. The opportunity to demonstrate competency combined with accurate feedback on performance is essential to developing confidence. Experiencing demonstrated competency sets the stage for family members to trust in themselves to further develop and prepare for increasingly complex roles. Experiences where learning is taking place and value is being created for the family enterprise is a powerful combination which builds family member credibility.

As an individual family member’s competency and confidence build, credibility with other family enterprise stakeholders also increases as they come to believe and trust in the family member. Essential to building credibility includes having, and applying, a well-defined next generation development process which is understood and accepted throughout the family. This helps ensure that stakeholders believe decisions regarding access to development opportunities, including employment roles, are in line with what has been agreed upon.

As your family considers the significant commitment you are making to your next generation development process, test its effectiveness through assessment of the impact on developing competency, confidence and credibility in the family’s next generation of family leaders. This assessment will provide you with important feedback to drive needed adjustments and to encourage your family to continue to invest in this critical component of multi-generational continuity.

A Year in Review: Our Top 15 Articles

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The Family Business Consulting Group is pleased to announce the addition of two of its seasoned experts to the top position of principal in 2016: Dana Telford and Michael Fassler.

“Both have fantastic family business acumen, academic and career pedigrees,” said Drew Mendoza, managing principal of the firm. “Their contributions to the field not only as advisors, but also speakers and writers, are superb. Most importantly, both have shown tremendous leadership in our company and great respect for our vision and values. Every client I have spoken with has provided outstanding reviews of their work with the family and the business.”

Dana Telford

Dana joined the firm in 2011 and has advised hundreds of business families from many business sectors in a variety of sizes on six continents and in more than 18 different countries. His former and current clients include leaders from Forbes’ list of the world’s wealthiest, a royal family and two of the largest privately held businesses in the world. Dana earned an MBA from Harvard Business School.

“Dana brings wonderful experience as a consultant and an excellent mind to the continuing development of The Family Business Consulting Group,” shared Craig Aronoff, co-founder, principal and chair of the board. “He represents the ‘next generation’ of ownership which will assure the continuity of our firm and the achievement of our commitment to remain an independent firm providing unconflicted service to our family business clients across generations.”

Michael Fassler

Mike has been serving family businesses since 1984, across industries and internationally. Since joining our team in 2013, most of his work is focused on family businesses owned by sibling teams and cousin teams with an emphasis on helping clients balance the tension of family and business as their families and businesses grow. He is a certified and active member of the Family Firm Institute and earned his BBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and graduate degree from Michigan State University

According to Craig, “Mike is an outstanding addition to our ownership team with decades of experience and a great understanding of practice of professional advisory services and building our capacity to better serve our clients. We look forward to having his voice in our decisions concerning the continuous growth and improvement of The Family Business Consulting Group.”

Our intention is similar to that of many of the family businesses we serve: to perpetuate The Family Business Consulting Group across generations by constantly identifying and attracting outstanding professionals and continuously facilitating their improvement while reinvesting in our organization, methods and intellectual capital.

The Family Business Consulting Group is pleased to announce the addition of Nicole Bettinger as its newest consultant specializing in communication, conflict resolution and training next-generation family business owners. Her experience includes facilitating family meetings, educating families and aligning ownership.

“Nicole is a wonderful example of what we seek in next generation family business specialists,” said Managing Principal Drew Mendoza. “She brings solid business and family communication instincts, broad experience, career commitment to the field and great care for the families she serves.”

Prior to joining the firm, she served as as the operations manager for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Family Business Center. Her work in programming helped the Center support family businesses through a variety of services including discussion forums, training programs and educational resources. Nicole also facilitated peer group meetings focused on the training of next generation family business leaders.

She has a personal passion and understanding of family business as her family owned a grocery store for 95 years before converting into a community operated co-operative.

Nicole’s education includes a BA in History and International Studies from UW-Madison and an MBA from Roosevelt University in Chicago. She is a recent graduate of the Family Firm Institute Certificate program in Family Business Advising and is pursuing the Advanced Certificate in Family Business Advising. Nicole also has completed coursework in group facilitation and mediation through DePaul University.

The Family Business Consulting Group welcomes Justin Craig, Ph.D. as a consultant to our team. His areas of advisory expertise include issue-selling by next-generation family members, business and family governance, and the use of strategy measurement and management tools, such as the Balanced Scorecard, in family firms.

He is also a Clinical Professor of Family Enterprises and Co-Director of the Center for Family Enterprises at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Justin’s research focuses on the strategy, function, management and performance of multi-generational family enterprises and those who lead and steward them. He is especially interested in the behavioral aspects of the family and, increasingly, the business family-influenced drivers of socio-economic impact. Before Kellogg, he held faculty positions at Northeastern University in Boston, Bond University in Australia (where he co-directed the globally renowned Australian Centre for Family Business) and Oregon State University.

Today he works closely with family business leaders and advisors, and has trained and presented to members of family firms from most business sectors (technology, consumer goods, manufacturing, retail and many others) and countries worldwide, including the United States, Columbia, Mexico, England, Ireland, Finland, South Africa, China, South Korea, Pakistan, India, Dubai, New Zealand and his home country Australia.

Justin completed undergraduate degrees in Business and Psychology (with Honors) at Griffith University, a Master’s degree in Counseling and a Ph.D. in Behavioral Science at Bond University.

In my last post, I shared the parallels I found between the marriage research of John Gottman, Ph.D. and how it applies to any familial relationship especially those who own/work together. Gottman dubbed the four most detrimental behaviors for a marital relationship as The Four Horsemen: criticism, defensiveness, stonewalling and contempt. (Criticism is discussed here.)

Defensiveness , says Gottman, is a way of blaming the other for the issue and blame has never solved any dispute. By accepting responsibility for at least your own part of the problem goes a long way in having a constructive discussion. Being defensive is like having a rubber wall around a person, never letting in any type of constructive feedback. The defensive person takes feedback and twists it to fling back at the person in order to protect themselves. Communication and problem solving get increasingly difficult with this person because attempts to better a situation are stalled from the beginning and the conflict escalates. Teenagers and young adults need to learn to graciously accept feedback and hone their own ability to change and grow. Defensiveness is an inherited trait.

The third part of The Four Horsemen is stonewalling: when one of the participants of a relationship withdraws from interaction. How many times do we see people go quiet and withdraw when things get difficult? How many times do people get flooded and not know how to manage the situation so they shut down? It happens a lot. People falsely believe that by not interacting in a time on conflict that there will be a better outcome than by confronting the negative, but the research shows that is not the case. It’s a death knell for a relationship.

Being able to talk with someone (or even argue in a constructive way) is better than shutting down. I have worked with more than a few families who have the culture of not “fighting.” The problem is that no one learns to manage conflict effectively. Stonewalling is a fierce form of control over the other person. There is no emotional connectedness with the person who is stonewalling because they have emotionally built an impenetrable wall around their psyche.

Finally, Gottman argues that the greatest predictor of divorce is contempt, and I argue it is the greatest issue of destructive family dynamics. Contempt displays include sarcasm, cynicism, eye-rolling, name-calling, tsk-ing, sneering and hostile humor. (There are more, and you know them when you see them). Parents don’t understand how their children can act that way towards their siblings yet they demonstrate those same behaviors to their own relatives in the firm.

Contemptible actions are made to discount the thoughts, feelings, and actions of the other in such a way as to inflict incredible damage. To ignore someone who is doing that takes Herculean strength! I have been the recipient of contempt and it is probably, to me, the absolute worst treatment anyone can do. I feel silly, angry, not valued, and completely turned off.

Imagine if that happens every day when you work someone who is related to you? I have been in situations where parents do this to children. What does that teach? The parent is keeping the child one step below, always on the lower rung. How can we prepare a child to have good relationships, have confidence to take on challenges when they are made to feel inferior? To me, contempt is akin to hatred. Who needs enemies when family members display contempt? There is NO PLACE for displays of contempt.

I am not naïve to expect that none of the above will happen in even the most loving, respectful and constructive of relationships. Sometimes emotions take over and we become our worst self – especially with those whom we trust will forgive us. But the preparation of our children is such an important task that we really need to teach them emotional skills that help with relationships. When you find yourself behaving a little subpar (and that might take some reflecting time to let the anger subside), acknowledge your actions and admit that you are not your best self sometimes.

Gottman’s final word of advice to couples is to try to have a ratio of 5:1 in positive to negative interactions (over a long span). By conceding less than stellar behavior and combating it with some positive interaction, you will mitigate the damage from the Four Horseman. We can do that with our next gen, too. Try to remember the golden ratio to keep the Four Horseman of the Relational Death at bay. Then you will have prepared your next gen well.